Fresno Pacific scored nine unanswered runs and put up a crooked number in the seventh to pull away with a 9-2 win over Cal State Stanislaus late Monday night.
Michael Turay and Andy Yingling each went 2-for-4 for the Warriors (1-1) with Phil Quade being tagged for the loss in his first relief appearance of the year.
After the game started an hour late due to the afternoon rain, things looked promising early for the Warriors as Stanislaus pitchers put up zeros on the board against the 17th ranked team in the NAIA.
Stanislaus scored twice in the fourth inning for a 2-0 lead with little ball. Jordan Long's safety squeeze scored Yingling and Garrett Wright laid down another bunt to score Craig Beevers to put the Warriors ahead.
But that was all of the scoring for the Warriors against FPU's Wilson Ashford. Ashford picked up the win in the circle after seven innings of work. He gave up two runs on eight hits with five strikeouts.
The Sunbirds, winners of five straight (four of them against Division II teams), scored all of their runs in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings on six hits, three Warrior errors. In the seventh, FPU needed just one hit to score six runs, helped by a CSUS error, four walks and a wild pitch.
In all, the Warriors committed five errors and ultimately led to five unearned runs.
Cal State Stanislaus used six different pitchers in the game with Quade giving up three runs on five hits in two innings. Dustin Baisdon allowed four runs as he walked three and Andrew Graham gave up two more runs on two walks and a hit.
Fresno Pacific, which improved to 9-2 on the season, was led by Alec Mehrten who went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Steven Lozier also had two hits.
The Warriors had a great opportunity to cash in some runs in the second after Long was hit by a pitch to load the bases after Turay and Yingling both singled earlier in the inning. However, Ashford got a strikeout to end the inning to lead the bags full of Warriors.
Cal State Stanislaus will open the CCAA season this weekend on the road when they travel to face Cal State L.A. for a four-game set starting Friday.